A daily morning look at the financial stories you need to know to start the day

STOCKS/ECONOMY

-Stock futures are strongly higher this morning after yesterday's mixed day. The big earnings reports today come from Morgan Stanley and Intel.

-Microsoft's very impressive earnings report is a big reason for the strong futures numbers right now.

OIL/ENERGY

-Crude prices are flat and holding at the $44/barrel level ahead of this morning's inventory data.

-Gasoline prices fell a penny overnight to $2.19/gallon, national average.

ELECTION

-Donald Trump was officially nominated as the presidential nominee in the roll call vote last night.

-Chris Christie delivered a much sharper than usual indictment of Hillary Clinton in his GOP convention speech last night.

-Tim Kaine and Tom Vilsack are reportedly atop the list of Hillary Clinton's VP choices.

AILES EXIT

-21st Century Fox is still negotiating Roger Ailes' exit from Fox News. It appears reports that anchor Megyn Kelly also told lawyers she was sexually harassed by Ailes sped up the decision to oust him.

-There are reports that some top Fox anchors will walk off the job in protest when Ailes is officially gone.

DEALS/NO DEALS

-Monsanto is still rejection Bayer's takeover offer and is still reportedly holding out for $130/share.

-Unilever is buying Dollar Shave Club for $1 billion.

OBAMACARE

-Obamacare premiums will jump an average of 13.2% in California next year.

-More than half of the Obamacare insurers are losing money selling the plans.

ZIKA SCARE

-Florida health officials are investigating a possible case of local Zika virus transmission not stemming from travel abroad.

MOVING AMERICA

-Mercedes has unveiled a self-driving bus.

DEFENSE

-Lockheed Martin says its very slow negotiating process with the Pentagon over its next batch of F-35's is causing the company to suffer a cash crunch.